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President Ilham Aliyev: Azerbaijani entrepreneurs fulfilling their civic duty with dignity

Politics Materials 2 April 2020 18:21 (UTC +04:00)
President Ilham Aliyev: Azerbaijani entrepreneurs fulfilling their civic duty with dignity

BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 2

Trend:

Azerbaijani entrepreneurs are fulfilling their civic duty with dignity, said President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev when receiving Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov, Trend reports.

“Our economic momentum this year has been very positive. In January-February, the gross domestic product increased by 2.8 percent, in the non-oil sector by 6.7 and in the non-oil industry by 21.7 percent. Inflation was only at 2.8 percent, while household incomes increased by 9 percent. In other words, revenues exceeded the inflation. At the same time, tax and customs authorities transferred large amounts of money into the state budget in two months. Tax authorities contributed 170 million into the budget and customs authorities a further 80 million manats. Of course, we hope that this dynamics will be continued throughout the year and thus additional revenues will come into our budget, making it possible to implement additional social programs,” said the head of state.

He noted that it is a little too early to talk about the results of March.

“The State Statistical Committee usually submits data about a week after the end of the first quarter. Therefore, we will certainly analyze these figures but it is not too difficult to guess that the pandemic is posing and will pose great obstacles to our economic development, of course. In order to minimize the economic and social repercussions of the pandemic, 1 billion manats was allocated to the Cabinet of Ministers on my decision. On my decision, four working groups have been set up and their main focus has been on analyzing the issues of employment, submitting proposals, ensuring economic stability and economic development, maintaining macroeconomic stability and, having analyzed our financial situation, taking the necessary additional measures in this area by the end of the year. Of course, we are primarily paying attention to businesses operating in the areas worst affected by coronavirus,” said President Ilham Aliyev.

“First of all, we must take into account the financial situation of the people working there because the note submitted to me by the Ministry of Economy indicates which areas have suffered the most from this situation, and more than 300,000 people work in these areas. Of course, we are worried about their financial situation. We must support them, especially if we consider that I urged all Azerbaijani businessmen not to lay off workers. This request or requirement remains valid. I should also note that in these circumstances, Azerbaijani entrepreneurs are fulfilling their civic duty with dignity. To date, the Fund to Support the Fight Against Coronavirus, which was set up on my decree, has already accumulated over 100 million manats, and only 20 million of this amount was transferred from the President’s Contingency Fund. This suggests that a significant part of the funds represent donations from entrepreneurs who have shown solidarity in this matter,” said the head of state.

President Ilham Aliyev expressed confidence that his call not to lay off workers will and should be taken into account, of course.

“At the same time, it is clear that many areas and more than 40,000 businesses are practically inactive or work to a limited capacity. The state should help them. Therefore, an instruction has been given to take into account both the social security of those working in these entities and the activities of individual entrepreneurs. There are about 300,000 of them. The Ministry of Economy has received these instructions,” said President Ilham Aliyev.

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